A PROGRAMME OF STUDIES RELATED TO INDIA
AND INDIAN VALUES
AND INDIAN VALUES
The important question of proposing a programme of studies related to values cherished by India and the theme of Indian heritage and composite culture as also a programme of the study of the national freedom struggle is addressed here.
There are, indeed, certain values which are uniquely Indian. For instance, the value and ideal of synthesis has been pursued through the long history of Indian culture as one of the most desirable goals – and that too repeatedly and with a very special insistence. The ideal of unity and national and international harmony, the values of mutuality and oneness in diversity have also been emphasised in India. The sense of joy that is behind various festivals in India and of the Indian idea of rhythm of life and the law of harmony, expressed by the word “Dharma” also need to be underlined. The place that has been given to womanhood and motherhood is something very unique to India, and an emphasis should be laid on the study of the contribution that women have made in the making of India. Above all, an overriding importance has been attached in India to the pursuit of knowledge, of purity, of heroism and of wisdom.
Referring to the period of India’s struggle for freedom, we have to note that this period was marked by the rise of great men and women who embodied Indian values and enriched them, and that a study of our nationalist movement provides us a perennial source of inspiration. Therefore, a special emphasis should be laid on the study of our struggle for freedom in our educational system, particularly, in the programmes related to the training of teachers.
It is undeniable that sound knowledge of the history of India is a sure basis of our understanding and the appreciation of the values that have evolved through vicissitudes of events and movements which have shaped the story of our vast subcontinent. Unfortunately, most of our books on Indian history contain the record of the rise and fall of dynasties and kingdoms, and they pay only a perfunctory attention to the vast and overwhelmingly important story of the cultural achievements of the Indian genius. Biographies of great leaders hardly find any place in our textbooks. Even the biographies of great monarchs, which do find some place, relate only to the political life rather than interesting and inspiring aspects that relate to pursuit of art, science, philosophy, religion and ethics. Our students may indeed come to learn something of the life of Ashoka and Akbar but very little of Nagarjuna and Abul Fazal.
The chronology of events of Indian history is very complex, and our history books often present this chronology in such a way as to render a synoptic view of Indian history extremely difficult. In any case, our textbooks fail to present to our students a connected story of the development of essential ideas and movements which are directly related to the values which need to be underlined.
A study of Indian history should be encouraged among all teacher-trainees, as one of the central aims of education is to provide to every student irrespective of whether he wants to be a doctor or an engineer, an artist or a scientist, a writer or an artisan, should become a true Indian and should receive from his teacher, whatever his speciality, that great heritage of Indian culture to which he is a natural heir. This would mean that all teachers, whether their specialisation is in the field of mathematics or language, in science or literature, in home- science or physical culture, should have the necessary equipment which would enable them to transmit Indianness to the children and students who would be placed under their care. This does not mean that every teacher should be a specialist in Indian history but he should have at least a sound and authentic idea of Indian culture and of those achievements which fill us with pride in our heritage.
Therefore, the aim should be to provide to teacher-trainees a bird’s eye view of Indian history and some detailed idea of some of the great movements and events as also of inspiring biographies, not only of kings and queens, but also of our great builders of religion and spirituality, of philosophy and ethics, of language and literature, science and technology, of art, of music and dance and sculpture and architecture. In addition, a brief idea of the various aspects of Indian life and of the values which are embedded in arts and crafts, in music and dance, in festivals and in the general attitude relating to the ultimate aims of life which provide a clue to the enigma of the continuity of Indian culture and to the problems of building up a greater and more glorious cultural edifice for the Indian people should be provided.
Finally, as explained above, a somewhat detailed account of the story of the freedom struggle which constitutes our immediate past which presents us with a record of an unusual stirring of the Indian spirit which has thrown up large waves of ideas and motives which seem destined to guide India’s course towards the future should also be included.
This would show the need for a new model of the presentation of Indian history. What exactly should be a new model is an extremely important question, and it calls for a special treatment at the hands of experts. In practical terms, a few important lines on which a programme of the study of Indian history should be envisaged as an integral part of the teachers’ training programme, is outlined:
A Rapid View of Indian History
Part I
(i) The question of India’s antiquity
(ii) Mohenjodaro and Harappa
(iii) Upanishad; Ramayana and Mahabharata
(iv) Vasistha, Vishwamtira, Lopamudra, Yajnavalkya, Maitreyi
Part II
(i) Buddha and Mahavira
(ii) Buddhism and Jainism
(iii) Invasion of Alexander the Great
(iv) Chandragupta Maurya
(v) Ashoka
III
(i) Kushans and Kanishka
(ii) Chandragupta, Samundragupta and Vikramaditya
(iii) Gupta Period: the Golden Age of India
(iv) Kalidasa, Varahamihira, Aryabhatt, Brahmgupta
(v) Fa-Hieun’s account of India
IV
(i) Harsha Vardhana
(ii) Huen Tasang’s account of India
V
(i) The coming of Islam, Tenets of Islam
(ii) Succession of Sultans, Razia Begum
VI
(i) Babar’s account of India
(ii) Beginnings of Sikhism: Guru Nanak
(iii) Akbar
(iv) Abul Fazal, Faizi and Tansen
(v) Jahangir, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb
(vi) Great Saints: Narsi Mehta, Tulsidas, Meerabai, Surdas, Chaitanya, Tukaram
(vii) Establishment of Khalsa: Guru Gobind Singh
(viii) Vijay Nagar
(ix) Annals of Rajputana
(x) Rana Pratap
(xi) The rise of Maratha Power
(xi) Shivaji
(xii) Sufism
VII
(i) Arrival of Europeans in India. East India Company
(ii) Conflict and chaos of the 18th century
VIII
(i) Triumph of the British over Rivals in India
(ii) War of Independence of 1857
(iii) Rani Lakshmibai, Nanasaheb and Tope
IX
(i) Renaissance in India and struggle for Freedom
(ii) Raja Ram Mohun Roy, Dayananda, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda
(iii) Birth of Indian National Congress
(iv) The first demand, The Moderates: Ferozshah Mehta, Ranade and Gokhale
(v) The demand of the Nationalists: Swarajya as the goal
(vi) Tilak and Sri Aurobindo
(vii) The Mantra of Bande Matram
(viii) Birth of new literature, art and science
(ix) Bankim Chandra, Jagdish Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore
(x) The Revolutionaries
(xi) The coming of Gandhi
(xii) The role of Annie Beasent
(xiii) Jalianwala Bagh
(xiv) Chittranjan Dass
(xv) Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru
(xvi) Political ideology of Satyagraha
(xvii) Non-cooperation and Awakening of Masses
(xviii) New leaders emerge
(xix) Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Maulana Azad, Vallabbhai Patel, C.Rajagopalachari
(xx) Declaration of the goal of Complete Independence
(xxi) Jail experience of eminent leaders
(xxii) Gandhi and Jinnah
(xxiii) Gandhi and British Viceroys
(xxiv) Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose
(xxv) Gandhi and his constructive programme
(xxvi) Freedom struggle becomes a mass movement
(xxvii) Role of women in the freedom struggle
(xxviii) New Constitution of 1935
(xxix) Congress leaders join the government
(xxx) Congress leaders withdraw from the government
(xxxi) The British repression. Problems of communal disharmony. Churning of Indian masses
(xxxii) Second World War and India
(xxxiii) Cripps proposals
(xxxiv) Rejection of Cripps proposals and Quit India Movement
(xxxv) Subhash Chandra Bose and Indian national Army
(xxxvi) Defeat of the Axis Powers and the End of the Second World War
(xxxvii) Attlee and Mountbatten
(xxxviii) Acceptance of the tragic proposal of Partition
(xxxix) 15th August 1947 Birth of Free India
X
(i) Jawaharlal Nehru and Free India
(ii) The new Constitution of India 1949
(iii) India adopts Planning
(iv) Problems of contemporary India
(a) National integration
(b) Poverty and unemployment
(c) Politics, economics and morality
(d) Power and productivity
(e) Integrated rural development
(f) India and her neighbours
(g) India’s educational policy
(h) India and the world
(i) New cultural awakening
(j) Science and spirituality
Part II
Achievements of Indian Culture
1. Religion and Spirituality:
(a) The aim of life and paths of wisdom
(b) Materialism, Asceticism and the Middle Path
(c) Spirit of tolerance, assimilation and synthesis
(d) True understanding of religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism.
(e) Synthesis of spiritual experience.
2. Indian Literature:
(a) Sanskrit and Tamil
(b) Birth of modern Indian languages
(c) Great literary masters: a detailed study of one of them.
3. Indian Art:
(a) The aim of Indian art
(b) An in-depth of one of the schools of Indian painting, dance, drama, sculpture or architecture
(c) Folklore and folk dances
(d) Indian arts and crafts
4. Indian Philosophy and Science:
(a) Methods of knowledge: Intuition, Reason and Sense-experience
(b) An in-depth study of one of the great Indian scientists or philosophers
(c) Indian contributions to mathematics, astronomy, medicine, logic and psychology
(d) Indian systems of Yoga, their synthesis
5. Theme of Heroism in Indian Culture:
(a) Spirit of adventure and the creed of the Indian fighters
(b) An in-depth study of one of the greatest heroes of Indian history
(c) Indian heroism and the ideal of the conquest of truth
6. Indian Festivals:
(a) An in-depth study of one of the festivals of India
(b) Festivals of India and national integration
(c) Festivals and daily life in India
7. Indian Sports and Games:
(a) Place of physical culture
(b) An in-depth study of Yogic Asanas and their relationship with physical health and higher fulfillment
(c) An in-depth study of one of the indigenous games and sports of India
(d) Modern India and the world of sports
8. The Theme of Perennial India:
(a) The greatness of India and continuity of Indian culture
(b) A diagnosis of the weakness of contemporary India
(c) How to build new India
(d) India and the ideal of human unity
Part III
An in-depth study of the one of the following themes:
(a) Tolerance and synthesis in Indian culture
(b) Unity and diversity of India
(c) Remedy of India’s social evils
(d) Synthesis of democracy and socialism in the Indian context
(e) The contemporary Indian youth: His aspirations
(f) The young India’s cultural efflorescence
(g) India and new paths of progress
